[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 26 (Tuesday, March 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            END VOODOO ENVIRONMENTALISM IN YELLOWSTONE PARK

  (Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, it is time to hold the Park Service 
accountable for its management of Yellowstone National Park. For 30 
years Yellowstone has been managed with a hands-off policy called 
natural regulation: a 1960's idea that scientists last week in 
testimony described as both foolish and misguided.
  We have a crisis brewing in Yellowstone Park. As a result of 
overgrazing, the beaver population, deer population, even the 
endangered grizzly bear's habitat have been severely damaged. Tall 
willows have been reduced by 95 percent. Aspen trees are disappearing. 
Stream banks are eroding 100 times faster inside the park than outside 
its boundaries.
  Bison, however, are so numerous they have overgrazed available 
pasture land. This winter over 1,000 bison starved to death or fled the 
park looking for food, and officials at the Department of the Interior 
say the cruelty of starvation is good for the herd. One of every two 
bison now carry a disease that causes abortion in cattle and death in 
humans.
  Mr. Speaker, this plan, a ``let it starve'' version of the old ``let 
it burn'' policy, can be replaced. We can do better. Let us stop this 
voodoo environmentalism, and preserve and protect Yellowstone Park.

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